


Can You Keep a Secret? (MCU Rolling Remix)

by scribblemyname



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Canonical Secrets, Friendship, Gen, References to Avengers: Age of Ultron, References to Captain America: Civil War, References to Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Spies and Secret Agents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-06-10 17:23:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6966220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scribblemyname/pseuds/scribblemyname
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They're spies in a spy's world, but they care about each other just the same.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can You Keep a Secret? (MCU Rolling Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Seventeen Minutes (The Heartbeats Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6828982) by [nenya_kanadka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nenya_kanadka/pseuds/nenya_kanadka). 



_There were secrets and secrets, and keeping them didn't mean they didn't care._

* * *

CLINT BARTON

He missed Lila's birthday covering Steve and Tony's backs in a fairly spectacular firefight, came home in time to get Laura's worried frown between her eyebrows, and to fall into bed with a groan.

"It's past midnight," Laura commented quietly.

"Too late to get brownie points for showing up on the day, huh?" He knew it was far too late to wake up their daughter, and far too late for it to count. "I meant to be here," he said. It hurt a little, missing so many moments.

Avengering. Most days it was worth it…

Laura sank down on the bed beside him, not lying down but sitting near enough to put her hand on his shoulder. "You were needed."

"I was needed here too." Not more, but not to be dismissed.

"Just don't miss the next one." Laura felt along his shoulder, but he didn't wince, just blinked up at her. She poked him—hard. "Up. You're dirtying up my bed."

Every muscle ached and he was just as sweaty and dirty as she was complaining about. He got back up with another groan. "Think I'll just sleep on the couch."

"Shower. Then get back in this bed."

"Aww, fine." He kissed her, smiling at her crinkled nose. "Whatever you say, ma'am."

It just might take a while.

* * *

So he didn't tell Steve about his family, until he had to. He didn't burden the Avengers with the need to keep his secrets. It wasn't that he didn't trust them or he didn't care. If he didn't care, he wouldn't leave his family so often to guard his friends instead.

* * *

MARIA HILL

"Is there anything else you think we should know?" Pepper Potts asked, smiling as she concluded the interview.

"Have you had a chance to look through the SHIELD leaks yet?" Maria Hill asked. Better to get the elephant in the room out onto the table where they could both poke at it and negotiate accordingly.

"I believe JARVIS has," was Pepper's dry comment, giving little if anything away. "Are you implying everything I need to know is in there?"

Maria just smiled wryly back. "If you believed that, you would have little reason to hire me." She let the words rest between them, not a bomb but a gauntlet of sorts and certainly the answer to Pepper's question.

You should know that I'm a spy in a spy's world. Our secrets have secrets. Somewhere in the underground, Fury is handing off the baton on SHIELD and building it again. Somewhere in that same underground, a man you believe is dead is still alive. Somewhere you know nothing about, SHIELD agents are carrying on _as_ SHIELD agents and one of them told me she doesn't know if she really trusts Fury and his decisions anymore. I know I don't trust that agent to be as compliant with the new SHIELD as she claims to be.

"You're hiring me because you have a cause, the Avengers, and you know I care," Maria concluded.

It was true.

Pepper shook her hand. A week later, Maria was hired.

* * *

NICK FURY

He had a plan, he'd checked it twice, and he'd put Maria Hill in place to back it up. There was no way in heaven or on earth that Agent Hill would ever not follow through or hold the fort when it needed holding.

"It'd still be good to have other support in place, sir," Maria informed him curtly, fixing him with that look that told him she already knew he was going to be stubborn about it, but she was just as stubborn and felt obligated to remind him.

He just leaned back with a comfortable grin, the one he knew from her exasperated sigh told her he was enjoying being stubborn. "You know, Hill, how many secrets are safer with additional keepers?"

"None," she replied dryly.

"That's right." Natasha might have been like a daughter to him, the protégée he'd always wanted (she came to him a fully formed spy with a mind of her own) and the daughter he'd never have (his significant other had made it perfectly clear _she_ intended to remain a fully formed spy with a mind of her own and no obstacles like children to slow her down), but she was still Natasha Romanoff who knew perfectly well that Fury's secrets had secrets and he loved her anyway.

"It's not because I don't care," he added.

Maria's mouth quirked a little with that humor he always liked to inspire in her. "Of course, sir."

What she really meant was probably more along the lines of 'you don't have to state the obvious.'

* * *

STEVE ROGERS

"You should have told him," the (familiar) voice on the other end told Steve bluntly.

Steve stared into Wakandan skies and sighed. "How did you get this number?"

He could almost hear the smile in Natasha's voice as she answered, "Are you sure you want to pull on that string?"

A file from HYDRA and Russia with love, Bucky's face and the Winter Soldier's exploits bloodying its pages. Steve closed his eyes and considered the angles of everything that had happened. "Did you know?"

"Know what, Rogers?"

She always had to deflect, to pretend she knew more than she did by the power of evasion and coy tones.

Steve didn't buy it, just pressed the issue. "Did you?"

Did you know what the Winter Soldier did and who he was and _why_ and that he killed Tony's parents in that car accident? You keep your secrets too well, and I never know if I can really trust the things you tell me.

But she only sighed and said the last thing he'd been expecting. "I thought it was obvious."

Stung, he replied sharply, "You could've told him if you thought—"

"I didn't think," she cut him off, snapping. "You did." Her voice softened. "Is it really paranoia if it always happens?"

The silence stretched for a long moment. Finally he shook his head. "Guess not."

And maybe he'd learned something from all of them. They kept secrets, they fought, they _went to war_ , but through it all, all of them still cared.

"Will I see you?"

The smile was back in Natasha's voice. "Maybe. Bye, Rogers."

Just before she ended the call, he heard the distinctive noisiness of an airport boarding call. He sighed, closed his own phone. She'd be okay. Maybe they all would.


End file.
